Suicide attempt leads to closure of PCH near Navy base, officials say

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A suicidal man with a knife was hospitalized Tuesday after he stabbed himself several times in an incident that led to the closure of Pacific Coast Highway near Naval Base Ventura County, authorities said.

California Highway Patrol officers went to PCH just north of Las Posas Road after a 6:45 a.m. report of a man walking on the shoulder and a vehicle that was possibly disabled or involved in a crash, said Officer Steve Reid, Ventura CHP spokesman.

When a CHP officer arrived about 7:25 a.m., the 43-year-old Oxnard man walked away and refused to follow the officer's instructions. The officer later saw a knife handle and blood in the vehicle and called for support, Reid said, adding that the man was holding a knife blade.

After Ventura County sheriff's deputies responded at 7:43 a.m., the man started running with the knife across both sides of the highway, sheriff's Sgt. Eric Buschow said.

PCH was shut down in both directions from Las Posas to Wood Road from about 8:15 to 9 a.m., officials said. Navy personnel also responded to the scene.

Authorities tried to persuade the man to drop the knife, but he stabbed himself several times, Buschow said. Sheriff's deputies fired bean bags at him, but they had little or no effect.

The man was detained after CHP personnel subdued him with a Taser stun device, but by then he had stabbed himself again, lodging the knife in his torso. At times during the incident, the man told authorities to shoot him, Buschow said, and deputies found suicide notes in his vehicle.

A helicopter landed on the freeway and flew the man to Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, officials said.

The man had surgery Tuesday and was expected to survive. After he was stabilized, he was expected to be released to the county mental health department, Buschow said.